Parish Pumps in Kent - Part II

Members will be sad to learn that Mr. Hart died in August 1991 and so did not live to see his widely researched article on Parish Pumps published in the K.A.S. Newsletter. Before his retirement to Battle, Sussex, he was a well-known archaeologist and historian in the Orpington area. Many of his drawings have appeared in Arch. Cant. in the past as illustrations to other members' articles.

BROMLEY. (Recorded 6.3.71). This pump once stood in the market square but was removed on development of the square and now stands in the public gardens southwest of the Parish Church. See Brasted for description.

BROMLEY COLLEGE. (Recorded 1971). Standing in the quadrangle, a late 19th-century tubular cast-iron type. Above the spout is a panel with the maker's name S. OWENS & Co/ ENGINEERS/ LONDON.

COBHAM. (Recorded 8.3.69). Situated at the west end of the village. The body is cast-iron, octagonal and panelled in two sections, the upper part being slightly tapered. It has two spouts, one quite high up. The lower one is a later addition or replacement. Set in the wall behind the pump is a stone with the inscription - THIS RESERVOIR / WAS ENLARGED AND REBUILT / WITH THE WATERWORKS THERETO BELONGING / AT THE SOLE EXPENSE OF THE / RIGHT HONOURABLE JOHN STUART / EARL OF DARNLEY I AND GIVEN TO THE PARISHIONERS/ TO COMMEMORATE / HIS COMING OF AGE / APRIL THE 16TH 1848.

COBHAM COLLEGE. (Recorded 19.4.69). Against the south wall of the courtyard, a pump with a lead spout, the mechanism being enclosed in a wood casing with a hinged door for access. In front, a stone trough. Set in the wall above is a stone, inscribed - THIS PUMP AND TANK WHICH SUPPLIES IT / WERE CONSTRUCTED AT THE / SOLE EXPENSE OF THE / RIGHT HONOURABLE ELIZABETH / COUNTESS OF DARNLEY / FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE / COLLEGE / A.D. 1821.

FARNBOROUGH. (Recorded 4.1.70). Situated on a small triangular green by the main Bromley to Sevenoaks road north of the village. A simple handle and rod mechanism entirely exposed and supported together with two spout outlets, on a baulk of timber. This is held upright on an iron platform by two curved metal straps. The handle mechanism is old, the pipes are more recent, (1940s?). No date or inscription.

FAVERSHAM. (Recorded 19.1.71). Standing by the Guildhall in the market place, a late nineteenth

pump Domed whole in castvery cap A.... much ornamented in pseudo-gothic style and in recent years painted red white and black. No date or inscription.

GOATHURST COMMON. (Recorded 21.5.88). By the main street is a crank-shaft type pump, the crank-shaft supportea on open work side pieces. The shait is operated by a wheel about 3ft. in diameter. Cast on the side pieces is the name of the maker, W. S. FREEMAN, ENGINEER, OTFORD. (Entry in Kelly's Directory for Kent 1891 under Otford - 'Commercial Resident. Freeman, William Spiers, engineer, contractor, and sawmills.' Also in Kelly's 1911 but not for 1878.) The whole stands on a paving slab base under a shingled roof supported by crossed timber side supports arnd now enclosed by a six foot high iron railing. Under the roof is the notice, GOATHURST COMMON/ BUILT 1901. DEPTH 190 feet.

HEADCORN. (Recorded 13.6.69). O,n the south side of the village green opposite the 'White Horse'. The pump is castiron in the form of a fluted column with stiff leaf foliage decoration just below the join and spout. Nice ribbed cap and balaster base. Headcorn Local History Society reported (1968) 'the old parish pump has been erected on Dag's Green'. Meaning, moved there in 1968. No date or inscription.

IDEN GREEN. (Recorded 10.8.87;/ At the village crossroads . under an open sided shelter with pyramid tiled roof; the pump is enclosed in an octago1nal wood casing reinforc with iron straps and an iron escutcheon round the spout. The top is surmounted by a ball knob. In front is a stone bucket rest, added later, with the inscrip1don, 1837 / VICTORIA / 1897, and inside the shelter a notice - THIS WELL / is for Domestic Supply ONLY I Is not to be use d for / ENGINES or TEAMS.

IDE HILL. (Recorded 10.5.69). On the village green a crankshaft type pump by W. S. Free man of Otford (as at Goathurst Common), but the wheel is missing. It stands under an open sided shelter, the tiled roof on ten timber supports.

KNOCKHOLT. (Recorded 31. 5.69). Southwest of the churchyard is a brick pumphouse let into an earlier flint wall. Inside a late tubular type cast-iron pump. The handle is missing. No date or inscription.

KNOCKHOLT POUND. (F:ecorded 10.5.69). Set in the green in front of 'The Three Horse Shoes' a structure of sheet iron riveted to a frame with a rounded top; bosses protruding for and aft for the handle or wheel (missing). On the front a long iron spout and an oval recess which may have contained the maker's name plate. The whole is set on a sheet of iron riveted to a concrete bas£:. No date or inscription. From 'The Kentish Times', September 1972'. Knockholt's village pump which stood for many years on the Pound is badly rusted at the base. Councillor Rob illiard said it would be a shame to lose it after it was found in a Bromley Council depot where it had been lost for years.

LEIGH. (Recorded 26.7.73). On the main street a square shelter, the tiled roof with four dormer openings, is supported on four timber pillars placed centrally on each side with cross struts to the corners. This must have been a shelter over the village pump as it stands next to 'Pump Cottage'. The pump is missing!

LEYBOURNE. (Recorded January 1970). Standing by the approach to the village from the Maidstone road, a pump bemg an octagonal stone pillar with nicely moulded cap and base. The spout is low down in cast iron. The handle is joined to the working lever by a connecting rod with a three hole adjustment. An inscription on the front of the pillar reads - DRINK WEARY PILGRIM/ DRINK AND PRAY/ FOR LIVING WATERS/ THEY ONLY THEY/ CAN SATISFY EARTHS / SONS AND DAUGHTERS / - 1859.

LYMINGE. (Recorded 27.10.73). Near the church a pump in a timber framed open sided shelter on a brick support arched at the bottom over a well and spring which is about 15 feet below road and pump level. The pump is a late tubular castiron type; handle broken. On top is cast- PATENTED/ 1877. A plate on the shelter reads - QUEEN ETHELBERGA'S WELL./ THIS WAS SUNK IN THE 7th CENTURY A.O. / BY ST. ETHELBURGA DAUGHTER OF ETHELBERT / OF KENT AND WIFE OF KING EDWIN OF NORTHUMBRIA. / SHE r FOUNDED THE ABBEY OF LYMINGE AFTER/ HER HUSBAND HAD BEEN KILLED AT THE BATTLE / OF HEATHFIELD IN 633 A.D. SHE WAS ABBESS / UNTIL HER DEATH.

MARDEN. (Recorded 25.8.77). In the centre of a square of modern houses is a tall iron pump, panelled on four sides and topped with a four sided scroll decoration on a large moulded cap. The spout is missing. On the front is a shield with the inscription - ERECTED BY I THE I PARISH COUNCIL/ 1899. It is probably not in its original position.

ST. MICHAEL'S TENTERDEN. (Recorded 18.10.75). Approaching Tenterden from the north about 1½ miles from the town, is St. Michael's. The pump stands at a minor road junction. It is cast-iron, octagonal, and has slight gothic decoration. Above is a sharply pointed cap and centrally a nicely shaped spout. Handle missing. No inscription or date.

SANDWICH. (Recorded 14.8.74). Clamped to a wall in Del£ Street near the town square is a cast-iron pump of the cylindrical type. The handle mechanism is unusual. The large S shaped curved handle operates on a pivot raised up about 24" higher than normal operating a long rod entering through rthe cap. An oval plate on the front with the date 1859. Other wording is unreadable owing to corrosion.

SEVENOAKS. (Recorded 25.11.72). Just off Six Bells Lane near the church in a small square, is a pump of the late tubular AJJ_e. No date or inscription. Mentioned in 'The pleasant town r ; Sevenoaks' by Sir John Dunlop.

SHADOXHURST. (Photographed by the late Bert Gipson cl 970). Standing in the road near the old school and church. The pump is slightly tapering, four sided, with shallow panels and leaf type decorative motifs. Curved handle with large knob with the number 40 on it. Spout very low down. Mr. Gipson reported that it had been demolished by a lorry since his photograph was taken. Later - it has been re-erected by the side of the road. Cast on the front - S. U. BUGLER / ASHFORD I 1887.

ROLVENDEN. (Recorded 19.7.72). Pump at the roadside in the High St. near Pump House. Wooden boarded casing and a long lead spout (about 2ft 6in) supported by a triple iron bracket. Long curved iron handle. Inscribed plate on the case reads THE VILLAGE PUMP ONE TIME THE ONLY SOURCE OF WATER FOR THE STREET, AND NOW PART OF ITS HERITAGE RESTORED 1965 BY WING COMMANDER A. H. BUTTON WHOSE PARENTS LIVED IN THE PUMP HOUSE. Another pump by the butcher's shop with a new wooden casing. A lead spout and iron handle with 40 cast on the knob.

SMARDEN. (Recorded 22.10.73). The pump is in the main street next to Dragon House. It is under a pyramid type roof forming an open sided shelter. It has a lead cistern front and spout encased in wood and an iron handle. On the cistern front is cast the date 1897.

TEMPLE EWELL. (Recorded 15.7.76). Pump on the comer of Mill St. and High St. A simple tubular cast-iron fluted column with spout and handle. Cap missing. No inscription.

TENTERDEN. (Recorded 19.10.72). Situated by the green at the northern end of the town, this pump is from the same cast-iron mould as at Brasted, Bromley and Esher in Surrey. The only difference is that the cap lacks the castellation decoration. The handle is missing. A 'Tenterden Guide' states - 'the Parish Pump, or more correctly East Cross pump erected in 1864 to provide this end of the town with a public water supply'.

TEYNHAM. (Recorded 12.4.77). Erected to commemorate Queen Victoria's Jubilee in 1897, this is more than a pump but a memorial - and designed by a committee! A solid square base with an octagonal upper stage surmounted by a pagoda style roof. This in tum is surmounted by a weather vane. The pump spout and handle are inconspicuous, being very low down. Maybe the pavement has been raised more than once since 1897. In the centre of the upper stage is a delicately designed iron bracket (for what purpose), and under the spout a large stone water trough. Above the spout a recessed panel reads - A.O. 1897 TO THE WORSHIP OF GOD & IN LOYALTY TO THE THRONE THIS MEMORIAL WAS SET UP WITH OFFERINGS FROM THE PARISHES OF TEYNHAM & L YNSTED IN THE YEAR OF THE QUEEN'S DIAMOND JUBILEE. For further interesting details see 'Kent Heritage Bulletin', spring 1977.

WEST MALLING. (Recorded 1.11.69). The pump stands in a small square in front of a Georgian cottage in Police Station Road. Cylindrical cast-iron with a fluted cap and knob. The lower part is covered by a six sided wooden base. No date or inscription. From 'Kelly's Directory of Kent 1891' under West Malling (page 438) - 'The Mid Kent Water Company have now (1890) laid their pipes throughout the town and will shortly be prepared to supply the inhabitants with water; but at present water is obtained only from pumps.

WOODCHURCH. (Recorded 24.7.76). A square pillar style pump in cast-iron. The body has panels with folia border decoration. The cap and base with curved mouldings. A fluted spout and, just above, the date 1878 cast with the panel.

The above listing does not pretend to be complete. Many villages have not been visited and towns not explored, so that reports of further pump examples in Kent would be welcomed; either a brief note of location or a description on the lines of the above notes, plus if possible a photograph.

A. C. HART